Ethnic Differences in Achievement in Darts Edward Dutton1 University of Oulu, Finland 1 Address for correspondence:
[email protected] Data is presented on the ethnic composition of high level darts players. It is noted that the male players are overwhelmingly European and British and that British ethnic minorities are absent among top male darts players. It is shown that this is predicted by the dominant European body type. High level female darts players are slightly more ethnically diverse. This is predicted by race-based differences in sexual dimorphism. Though it is argued that culture plays a part in explaining these data, purely cultural explanations are shown not to be persuasive. Key Words: Darts; Ethnicity; Football; Race; Somatotype; Snooker; Volleyball There is considerable evidence for racial differences in success in a variety of sports, including short- and long-distance running, American football, baseball and swimming (Entine, 2000; Epstein, 2013; Irving and Charlton, 2010; Sailes, 1998). It has been argued that though culture plays a part in explaining these differences, these differences are significantly genetic because races tend to succeed in the sports which require the physical characteristics which different races possess (Epstein, 2013), sporting success is highly genetic (De Moor et al., 2007), and physical abilities, more broadly than sport, are also significantly genetic. For example, variation in lean body mass has been found to be 50% genetic (Arden and Spector, 1997) while forearm perimeter is around 68% genetic (Loos et al., 1997). This argument has been strengthened by evidence showing that racial differences in sporting ability exist at very young ages (Entine, 2000).